Fan Fiction ❯ Rivers of Time ❯ Chapter 1

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Rivers of Time Chapter One Date: Saturday, June 4, 2005 Time: 8:03 A.M.

"Jaaaaaaaaake! Jaaaaaaaaaaaaake! JAKE!"

A blond-haired boy lay in bed, sleeping. He lay oblivious to the song on the radio alarm clock, the tree branch tapping gently at his window, and the cries of someone from downstairs. Suddenly, the door opened and a blonde-haired woman poked her head in.

"JACOB FRANCIS LOCKHART, GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED NOW!"

The boy shot up, heart pounding. "Gah! Geez, Mom, don't do that! You scared the living daylights out of me!"

"Well, you weren't responding to anything else," the boy's mother responded. "What choice did I have? Anyway, you need to get dressed. The movers will be here any minute." With that, she closed the door and left him to his own devices.

The boy hopped off the bed and walked over to his dresser. He then studied himself in the mirror. He looked at his hair, which was, as usual for him, sticking up all over in spikes, and tried vainly for the millionth time to flatten it.

If you haven't already guessed, my name is Jacob Francis Lockhart. My birthday is August 8, and my Zodiac sign is Leo. I am currently eighteen years old, and I just finished my freshman year of college with a grade point average of 3.25. My major is History. I am 5'10", weigh 180 lbs, my blood type is O+, I am left-handed, and I have blond hair and blue eyes. My favorite food is plain pizza, and my least favorite food is anything with coconut. My hobbies are fencing (I was on the college team), playing the saxophone (I was in the college concert band), and tabletop role-playing games. I also enjoy playing touch football and watching the pros. We currently live in Savannah, Georgia, but we are moving to a suburb in Atlanta. Take a guess as to who my favorite football team is. Personality-wise, I'm a nice guy, but I'm also somewhat shy - especially around girls. I'm very smart and a hard worker, and despite my shyness, I possess strong leadership qualities. I have two main problems, though. The first is my shyness. The second is that I have a short temper.

Jake left his dresser and went over to his closet. He grabbed the only clothing that had not been packed: a pair of boxers, a pair of socks, a pair of shorts, and a Michael Vick football jersey. He put them on as quickly as he could, and also put on his watch, his gold neck chain, and his sneakers. He then walked down the stairs with his bag of personal items.

When he got downstairs, he came across his mother, his father, and his little sister. He sat down to a plate of pancakes and began eating.

This is my family: Lucas, Maria, and Jennifer. Lucas is my father. His birthday is March 18, and his Zodiac sign is Pisces. Currently, he is fifty-four years old, is 6'0", weighs 210 lbs, has a blood type of O+, and has blond hair and blue eyes. My father and I have the same hairstyle, and I have received a lot of comments that I look a lot like him. He is a mechanical engineer and an engineering consultant, and he is being transferred to a company in Atlanta. His favorite food is chicken, and he seems to have no least favorite food. He is always working, so he seems to have very little time for hobbies, but when he was my age, he liked to build model cars, and even now, he has a 1972 Corvette that he needs to restore. On vacations, he usually spends his time reading, or sitting on the beach, or reading while sitting on the beach. He has a "corny" sense of humor, and is a very hard worker. He's fun to be around, but he's also very strict.

Maria is my mother. Her birthday is December 18, and her sign is Sagittarius. She is currently fifty-one years old, is 5'9", weighs 150 lbs, has the blood type O-, is left-handed, has blond hair and blue eyes. Her favorite food is prime rib, and her least favorite food is fish. She is a certified fitness instructor, and already has a job lined up in Atlanta. She likes to watch soap operas, jog, and cook. She's a very reliable person with an uncanny memory for details, but she likes to nag a lot.

Jennifer is my little sister. Her birthday is November 13, and her sign is Scorpio. She is currently ten years old, is 4'11", weighs 60 lbs, has the blood type O+, and has blond hair and blue eyes. Her favorite food is ice cream, and her least favorite food is broccoli. To my parents, she is an absolute angel. However, I like to refer to her as "evil incarnate." She always tries to ruin things for me. The worst part is, however, she can get away with it and make it look like I broke something or humiliated myself.

Suddenly, Jake felt a sharp pain in his right shin. "Ow! My shin!" Jake looked to his right and saw Jenny grinning.

Mrs. Lockhart looked up from her food. "Oh, no, you're having shin pains again?"

"Mom, for the millionth time, they aren't 'shin pains!'" Jake responded. "It's Jenny kicking me under the table!"

Mrs. Lockhart glared at her son. "Stop blaming your problems on your poor sister!"

"Hey, I have an idea," Mr. Lockhart said. "How about we let Jake drive Jenny to Atlanta?"

Jake spit out a mouthful of milk back into his plastic cup. "WHAT?" he protested. "You can't be serious! She'll make me get into an accident or something!"

Mr. Lockhart looked at his son sternly. "You're driving your sister, and that's final."

Jake turned back to his pancakes. "Fine. Jenny, you're riding in the back seat."

"You will let Jenny ride in the front seat, Jacob," Mr. Lockhart ordered.

Jake turned white. The last time he had driven Jenny and she sat in the front seat was a bad experience for him, and that was putting it lightly. "But Dad, the warning labels in the car say that children 12 and under should sit in the back seat!"

"Well, Jenny is big enough to sit in the front," Mr. Lockhart decided. Jake shot a menacing glare at his sister, who grinned mischievously. He could tell that it was going to be a long trip. He finished off his pancakes and disposed of the paper plate and plastic cup. No sooner had he done so than the doorbell rang. Mr. Lockhart went to the door and answered it.

"Maria, the movers are here! Let's get ready!"

---

Before getting in his car, Jake knelt down in front of Jenny. "Jenny, please behave yourself on this trip. Don't do anything to torment me. If you behave, I'll give you twenty dollars."

Jenny's eyes widened. "Do you have it?" she asked.

Jake reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet. He opened it and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. He folded the bill up and put it in his left front pocket, then put the wallet back in his back pocket. "See? Behave and you'll get twenty dollars." He then stood up and walked to the other side of his car.

Jake stopped and took a moment to admire it. His car was a red 2004 Pontiac GTO. It had certainly cost a lot of money, but he had been saving money since the summer between his freshman and sophomore years of high school. He had done work with his father during the week, and on weekends, he had been in a band that played at local gatherings. He had been the only student at his high school to own a brand-new car. He opened the door, climbed in, buckled his safety belt, and started the engine. Jenny opened her door and got in. However, Jake did not go. Jenny looked at him, puzzled. "Jake, aren't you gonna go?"

"Fasten your seat belt," Jake answered. "Then we'll go."

Jenny shook her head. "That thing's too uncomfortable!"

Jake sighed. "Jenny, you need to put on the seat belt to keep you safe."

"Nuh-uh!" Jenny responded. "And if you try to make me, I'll tell Mom and Dad!"

"No good," Jake said. "They'd agree with me on this one." Then, there was tapping on the window. Jake rolled down the window and found his father standing there.

"Hey, what's the holdup?" Mr. Lockhart asked.

"Jenny doesn't want to put her seat belt on," Jake answered.

Mr. Lockhart frowned. "Hm, I see. Jenny, put your seat belt on."

Jenny groaned. "Fine, fine." She grabbed the buckle and fastened it.

"All right, we're all ready to go," Mr. Lockhart commented. "Think you can keep up?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Puh-leeze. With the way you drive? I'll have to be careful that I don't overtake you. Besides, this baby has 350 horses under the hood. Yours has what? Two?"

Mr. Lockhart laughed. "Careful there. My Corvette could drive circles around your car. Well, we'd better get going." He left to go back to his car.

Jake turned around to find a wide-eyed Jenny. "There are horses under the hood?" she squealed. In response, Jake bashed his head into the steering wheel, sounding the horn.

---

An hour later, Jake was driving down the highway en route to Atlanta. He was listening to one of his classic rock CDs, while Jenny was sitting with her arms folded, pouting.

Jenny prodded Jake in the side. "Put on some of my music!"

"You didn't bring any CDs with you," Jake responded. "And I'm not about to go searching blindly for a radio station. Besides, driver controls the radio, and if it has one, CD player. You know what Mom and Dad do. Same applies here."

"Not if I start screaming so loud you can't hear the music," Jenny threatened.

"If you do that, you can kiss that twenty dollars good-bye," Jake shot back. Jenny shrunk back and remained quiet.

Jake returned his full attention to the road ahead of him. He saw himself coming up on a minivan, so he looked around, turned on his signal, and moved into the left lane to pass. Suddenly, he heard a blaring horn. Jake looked in the rearview and saw a car coming up on him fast, and it was not showing signs of slowing down. Jake quickly dropped his speed and lunged back behind the minivan as the car flew by. Jake tried to get the license plate number, but the car was moving too fast for him to even see a license plate, let alone a number.

Jake clenched his teeth. "What an idiot! Thinks he owns the road!" He accelerated and moved back into the left lane to pass the minivan. When he got a clear view, however, the speeding car was gone. "Hey, where did he go?"

Jenny looked around. "Maybe it's already out of sight? It was going fast."

Jake shook his head. "Not fast enough to go out of sight." He leaned back in his seat. "Oh, well. Nothing to get worked up about. He'll get his just desserts sometime."

---

Jake followed his parents' cars into the development, drove down a few streets, and came to a stop at a house. He turned to his right and aroused a sleeping Jenny. "We're here." Jenny opened her eyes and looked out the window. In front of the two siblings was a two-story colonial house. The roof was covered with black slate and the front of the house was brick. Jake also saw white siding. The door was in the middle with a small stoop and a path to the driveway, which was to the right, with a two-car garage that extended out from the house. Above the door was a large picture window, and Jake could see a chandelier inside. All in all, it was a nice house.

"Well, how does it look?" Mr. Lockhart asked as Jake and Jenny emerged from the car.

Jake looked over to the right and noticed a second driveway. "Hey, Dad, what's with the second driveway?"

Mr. Lockhart followed his son's gaze. "Oh, that? There's a one-car garage in the basement. It's a walk-in basement."

"All right!" Jake exclaimed. "I finally get my own garage!"

"Not so fast, buddy," Mr. Lockhart responded. "That garage is for the Corvette."

"So, I get one side of this garage?" Jake asked.

Mr. Lockhart laughed. "No, those are for your mother's and my cars."

Jake's jaw dropped. "What? So I have to leave my car, easily the second-nicest car we have, out in the elements? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, when you get your own house, you'll be able to put your car in the garage then," Mr. Lockhart said. "Until then, however, you live in my house and abide by my rules. Besides, come September, you'll be at college and won't need a garage."

"Well, Dad, the Corvette is in a storage unit," Jake said. "May I at least use the basement garage until then?"

Mr. Lockhart shook his head. "No, the basement garage is meant to accommodate a Corvette, not a GTO."

Jake sighed. It was obvious that he was not going to win this battle. "Fine."

"Hey, Daddy, did you see the fast car?" Jenny asked.

"What fast car?" Mr. Lockhart asked in response.

"Well, at one point on the highway, there was a guy who was going easily 120," Jake explained. "He nearly rear-ended me. He should have passed you about two seconds after he passed me."

Mr. Lockhart looked at the two siblings in confusion. "No, there was no one going excessively over the speed limit that I saw." Jake and Jenny looked at each other in surprise.

---

Jake went up the stairs and rounded the corner. He walked into the room that was to be his bedroom. Apparently the movers had gotten there before they had, and his furniture was already in his room. In fact, everything was in place. He remembered something about his father saying that he had given the movers a map to show where to put the furniture.

Jake looked across his dresser and saw something on it. He walked over and found a little box. There was a note attached to it that read:

We found this on the floor of your room. We thought you might like it.

Jake opened the box and found a gold ring. In the ring was a red stone and it had engravings of clocks and calendars on it. Jake slipped it on the ring finger of his right hand and found that it fit perfectly. Strange. I haven't had a ring that fit this well since my high school class ring. Upon further investigation, Jake found that the base around the gem could rotate and that it had twelve markings on it. He turned it clockwise, then counterclockwise, then clockwise again, simply fooling around with it.

The red stone on the ring shot out a beam of light. "Whoa!" Jake exclaimed. He then saw something appear in the light. There was a message that read:

Princeton, New Jersey

Saturday, November 12, 1955

1:35 P.M.

"What is . . .?" Jake began. However, before he could finish his sentence, he lost his sight.

---

Jake's eyesight returned. He looked around. "Where am I? I'm not in my room anymore." He found himself in an alley in between two brick buildings. He walked out and looked around.

Jake's jaw dropped in shock. Every car he saw around him was manufactured in either the 1940s or the 1950s. He saw a boy jumping by on a pogo stick, and a pair of boys going by on homemade scooters. He looked across the street and saw a diner. Then, he saw a man in a suit drop a newspaper into a wastebasket. Jake walked over and looked at the newspaper. It was The Princeton Times, and the date read, "Saturday, November 12, 1955."